The Psychology of a culture is revealed and perpetuated in how they relate to and treat their children and in how they relate to and treat the most vulnerable people within their society. Heal that and we can heal everything.
An open letter, in response to Irish Government's 'Survivor Engagement' process, in preparation for a Public Inquiry into Irish Schools, and abuse of children on an industrial scale.
Child abuse within Irelands School Systems, Care Systems operated by Catholic clergy and others.
Most people by now are aware that Ireland has been going through a difficult process of coming to terms with a 7 decades long culture of abuse and violence within Institutional Care Settings. This process started in 1986. It has been a difficult and imperfect process, and is now supported by the majority of the Irish population.
There is a Survivor Engagement process underway, being carried out by the Irish Government, driven by recent revelations of the extent of child sexual abuse within Irish Boarding and Day Schools, operated by Church bodies. More about that later.
I am a survivor of 5 Boarding schools.
The engagement process, which I subscribed to when it was announced, reached out to me recently.
I responded to a recent letter from the Survivor Engagement Lead, Keiran McGrath.
My response, an open letter, is posted below, and what I have written here is an introduction, a lead into that letter. I want readers to understand why I wrote this letter. I admit my knowledge on this matter is incomplete - no single Survivor can hold all of it, I am neither an academic nor a professional advocate. I am a Survivor.
Readers can scroll down to the letter, and skip the introduction, if you have some knowledge of the history of this matter. Dear readers, you can also alert me any to errors and mistakes I have made via the comments section.Thank you for taking the time to read through this.
Here are three videos which I think give a sense of the history and tone of this matter, and the current situation.
Deputy Ruairi Quinn speaking on the Ryan Report on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse 2009, after a decade of Inquiry.
A Survivor, Micheal O'Brien, on Questions and Answers, an RTE broadcast programme, speaks to the adversarial approach of the Irish Government, in their handling of Inquiries into Child Abuse within Irish 'Care' systems over 7 decades, 2009.
David Ryan, Survivor, speaks on RTE Late Late Show December 9th 2023
Emergence of Survivors seeking Justice and accountability, for Child Sexual Violence within Irish Boarding Schools, and how those matters were treated by State and Church.
This astonishing, harrowing appearance on RTE's Late Late Show, by Mark and David Ryan, two brothers, assaulted by the same priest, Father Tom O'Byrne, Holy Ghost Fathers, over an extended period in the 1970s marked an important, and some would say, historical turn. Their appearance before the nation on prime time TV, on one of the senior talk shows, made headlines. That said their call back in 2002 to indict one of their abusers ought to have had the same effect. 21 Years they have waited for this to happen.
For many years neither brother spoke of their abuse, not even to each other or their parents, until early 2002 when clerical child sexual abuse filled the news headlines.
This led the brothers to reveal their abuse, first to their parents, and then to one another.
They made statements to the Gardaí (Irish Police Force) which led to multiple charges being brought against their abuser.
By then, Fr O’Byrne was 82-years-old and still living on the grounds of Blackrock College.
He denied the charges made against him and launched a legal case, seeking to halt criminal proceedings.
In 2007, the courts decided that the criminal case against the brothers’ abuser should be halted, as it would cause this old, old man much distress, and not serve the Public Good to proceed with a prosecution. Fr O’Byrne died in 2010, having never had to face trial. The Judge, Judge Adrian Hardiman, was an alumni of Belvedere, another college operated by The Holy Ghost. This was a Judicial error.
Mary Carolan, writing in the Irish Times on September 6th, 2012, 6 years later about a review/audit of the Holy Ghost Fathers, as they were known at the time (they have 'rebranded' as 'The Spiritans' since then) which indicated the following -
"A REVIEW of child safeguarding practices in the Holy Ghost congregation has found "unacceptable failures" over decades to protect children from 47 alleged abusing priests in its schools here.
The Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog, the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), also expressed “grave concerns” that an abuser removed from ministry in 1995 was on an internet forum just last year. Another, unknown to the congregation leaders, was until recently engaged in temporary ministry despite not having the order’s required clearance document.
A total of 142 allegations of abuse by Holy Ghost or Spiritan priests were made between 1975 and 1994, but suspected abusers were often moved, within Ireland or abroad, provoking concern that other victims had yet to come forward here or in countries such as the US, Canada and Sierra Leone, the review noted.
The order’s files made “very sad reading”, it said. There were “unacceptable failures” to prevent abuse that children “could have been spared if action was taken” and the congregation’s current leadership had to carry the responsibility for those past failures.
One “prolific abuser”, who abused children over 13 years and was removed from ministry in 1995, was found on an internet forum in 2011. Despite concerns raised about the priest within three years of the abuse starting, he continued to abuse children for a further 10 years.
Another priest who abused 28 children between 1968 and 1993 was removed from ministry only in 1996. He has since died.
Files provided to the NBSC by the Spiritans showed serial abusers in schools “went undetected and unchecked, giving them unmonitored access to children during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s”.
Of the 47 priests about whom allegations were made between 1975 and 1994, just eight are still alive, with three out of ministry. Three Spiritans have been convicted of abuse."
So more than a decade ago, the matter was raised, yet again, and it appears that justice and accountability in public has been evaded. The Spiritans have typically operated on a case by case basis, in private, settling with Survivors, with clauses demanding confidentiality and immunity from further legal action. Managing Survivors to protect the Institution. This stance is intolerable.
A true Christian, and indeed any decent human being would admit the fault, provide full access to the documentary trails, contained in their files, as a matter of transparency, honesty and genuine, meaningful remorse.
The Ryan brothers story, and others we know about, which have been in the public domain for decades, are the tip of a massive iceberg.
The appearance on the Late Late Show, by the Mark and David Ryan, who were hailed as 'immensely courageous' for taking that step, in which they were given a standing ovation by the studio audience, followed on from the RTE Radio Documentary 'Blackrock Boys' broadcast on November 7th, 2023, produced by Liam O'Brien. That started the current situation. Historic courage and indeed, humility.
Apart from the harrowing stories Survivors told, their stories revealed that it is likely that many hundreds of children were assaulted in just one Boarding School, with estimates that 21% of one year group in 1979 had endured profound abuse, sexual assault physical violence, psychological and emotional coercive abuse.
This speaks to a culture of violence and a culture of protective cover-up, that there clearly was an awareness of the malign behaviour of these abusive clerics amongst the Holy Ghost Congregations high officials, who adopted a reactionary defensive stance which in turn enabled these abusers to continue to abuse children.
Two current issues have emerged from this recent developments, in terms of State and Church Institutional response to the 'sudden' appearance of Survivors speaking in public, as they have done.
One being a Restorative Justice process crafted by a group of Blackrock College Past Pupils seeking a public apology for the abuse and the lack of accountability from The Spiritans (formerly The Holy Ghost Fathers), funded by The Spiritans, who are working with Past Pupils and Survivors.
The second being the matter of Survivors, Survivors Advocates and the wider populations call for a full Public Inquiry into Child Abuse to cover all Irish Boarding and Day Schools, since the inception under the Irish State, 1926. These Schools were operated by the Church, received funding from the Irish Government since the get-go. As Survivors age, the imperative to hold those Institutions to account before we pass away, often too early, often after decades of distress is clear.
The former matter, Restorative Justice, is understood by many Survivor groups, and their advocates as inadequate, in that it is a process that is usually activated when someone who has been convicted of a crime of harm shows due remorse, where the people victimised want to help bring the assailant towards rehabilitation as part of their recovery from the harm caused to them. With this in mind, the previous defensive stance of The Spiritans remains intact. They had made a public apology, but have not yet fully acknowledged the scale of harms caused by their stance thus far. This remains a concern, that such an acknowledgement is yet to emerge.
Restoration after an open and transparent admission of responsibility, for all the harms caused, in good faith, must not be utilised as a defence of the culpable party, but as a meaningful social and material attempt to heal, by both parties. To restore peace.
That said, some Survivors have taken up the Restorative Justice process that The Spiritans have started. The work done by past pupils to gain this has been an important part of the current developments. To the extent that the Restorative Justice process can handle a few cases, rather than look at the whole, it has obvious limitations.
The latter item, a Public Inquiry into the School systems of Ireland since 1926, is deemed by most people looking at this to be essential.
Previous Inquiries
There have been three previous major extensive Public Inquiries in Ireland - Ryan, Ferns, and Murphy, looking at the response to allegations and proven cases of abuse within residential care institutions overseen and funded by The State, operated by The Churches.
In spite of regular public calls from Survivors, no Public Inquiry into the School system in general, and Boarding Schools in particular, has been considered by the Irish Government, up to 2022/23.
Irish Government response.
In the days and weeks following these media events in 2022, the Irish Government acknowledged the matter and paid heed to Survivors call for a Public Inquiry. The Irish Government made a number of commitments to make this Public Inquiry happen, stating in March 2023 that it would ensure the Public Inquiry was 'survivor led' and set a deadline of 9 months to prepare for it.
They have initiated a 'Scoping Exercise', to engage with Survivors, to assess the number of cases, to gather more information to feed into a future Public Inquiry. This exercise is aimed at the 220 Survivors who have contacted the Government. It is well understood that there are many, many more Survivors, across Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora who have not spoken of their experience. What Survivors need is a process that is demonstrably safe, a place guided by proven expertise, a space where Survivors can share insight and solidarity as a demographic. We are a significant sector of Irish Society.
I had contacted the Irish Government and asked to be considered for inclusion in this engagement.
My stance, as a Survivor, of five Irish Boarding Schools, is that a Public Inquiry is necessary. I can speak to the culture of violence and abuse in all five of those Boarding Schools. How could I not seek an Inquiry into the whole, when the parts I experienced were so atrocious?
All of this, and more, is the background to the current situation.
My experience of Survivor Engagement.
I have had no communications to me from the Survivor Engagement team until last week. I had viewed Government website pages and read announcements on the matter. I received two posted letters, the first to apologise that they were unable to deliver emails to me, as they were returned, due to failure to arrive or find my email address.
The second letter was to set out the parameters of the next stages of the Survivor Engagement Scoping Exercise, and invite me to participate. This is the document referred to.
It appears to me to be the case that no Survivors nor Survivor Advocacy nor Survivor Support Expertise with experience of these matters has been consulted by the Irish Government, since December 2022, let alone since March this year, when the Government announced their intention to prepare for a Public Inquiry, to carry out a scoping enquiry to inform their deliberations, in spite of frequent efforts and communications by Survivors to assert their right and their status as Survivors to direct, inform and guide Government on the process, as equals, as a 'survivor led' process, from the get-go.
Today I have learned that two people brought in as consultants to the Government, Mary O'Toole and Keiran McGrath appear to have relevant experience. However I am unaware of any Survivors or Survivor advocacy expertise involved in this process. The Government website shows updates have been made on 30th May.
Onevoice.ie
Mark Vincent Healy, a Survivor and long time survivor's activist and advocate set up a web portal to foster a Survivors solidarity access point, https://www.onevoice.ie/about.html.
Three months later and from my perspective, Survivors remain practically excluded from informing or designing the Survivor Engagement process.
It would appear the Irish Government wants data from Survivors, but not advice on how best to proceed. I could be wrong. I may well be missing something. If I am, I want to be much better informed. I do not see how the current process is Survivor led. Government announcements, their terms of reference, thus far have not clarified this in terms that meet my un-met needs as a Survivor.
I read their proposed process, as outlined in the letter, and I found it to be inadequate, unsafe and ill-prepared, and I wrote the following reply:
Open Letter : A Survivor Responds to Irish Government Survivor Engagement Scoping Exercise.
To whom it may concern,
I received two letters from Survivor Engagement Lead, Keiran McGrath, last week, on 25th and 26th of May.
The first explained that attempts to contact me via Email had failed. I have sent numerous emails to Government Ministers, and to the Taoiseach, and have received acknowledgements, so I have no idea why my email was not functioning. Nonetheless I was glad to receive the letter.
The second letter contained more details concerning the Irish Government Survivor Engagement process, in preparation for the establishment of a Public Inquiry into Historic Child Abuse within Irish Boarding and Day Schools. and the response of Institutions, with a copy of the Governments published document indicating how they intended to engage with Survivors.
You can read their proposal here, which was sent with that letter:
I will quote from their document - "In the first instance the Survivor Engagement process will endeavor to explore key matters that need to be addressed."
'Endeavor to explore' seems to me to suggest an unlikely scenario - that Church and State do not already have knowledge and understanding of the previous delays and failures to hold those responsible to account.
Both parties know this, because they have caused the delays. Survivors know, because we have endured them. The pain, despair and frustration resulting is an everyday experience for Survivors.
As to 'addressing key matters' how does a bland questionnaire seeking private and traumatic information on crimes, without evidence that the psychological and material health support such reporting usually demands is present and at scale, help at this stage? What is being addressed by this questionnaire?
I note that the document mentions Trauma Informed Facilitators, as interfacing with Survivors, collecting this information, without providing the accreditation of same. What precisely is a trauma informed facilitator? What qualifications and experience are deemed adequate by Government?
Is this a questionnaire a process Survivors can trust in?
From my perspective, it is not.
The key matters that must be addressed, from the start, before canvassing Survivors in the ill-thought out manner suggested, are the following:
1. Admission and acknowledgement of previous errors, mistakes, failures and delays by Government, in responding to and delivering on Survivors calls for Justice, as part of understanding how to avoid avoidable harms.
2. A published declaration and commitment to avoiding avoidable harm to Survivors, to meet in full their un-met needs, as we step into the future.
3. The establishment of a Survivors Expert Panel, to act as a channel between all Survivors, as a Demographic of the Irish Population, and Government - to enable equity at the table between Government and Survivors, to reduce the Power Disparity between State and Survivors, in the establishment of a Public Inquiry, including setting out the tasks of such an Inquiry. No individual Survivor has all the resources that such a body, correctly set up, would be able to marshal, on behalf of Survivors.
Once these are in place, Survivors can proceed, on the understanding that Survivors have established an equal status with Government, that Government is wholly committed to avoiding avoidable harms to Survivors or to their interests, to avoid repeating past errors, and that Survivors and their professional advocates and relevant expertise will be listened to, they will be heard and their expertise, skill and insight will be properly integrated into the design and implementation of this Public Inquiry.
In essence, establishing a safe space, where one has not existed before, so that Survivors can direct Government on how best to meet the un-met needs of the children they were, and un-met needs of the adults they have had to become, aware of the heavy costs of their endurance of trauma and abuse and lack of justice.
Just to be clear, I will pose the question "What are Survivors Rights?"
In reply, ' To have our un-met needs for justice and accountability met, to have social and material support put in place, acknowledging the wounds we carry, the impact of years of abuse and decades of cover-up has had on our lives, and on the lives of our families and their communities. There is no repair of the harm caused possible. Harms of this egregious nature cannot be undone.
Nonetheless, Justice, Legal, Criminal and Civil Accountability and an accurate, honest history can be achieved, and this will go much of the way in meeting Survivors needs.
In short, having our un-met needs met, is each and every Survivors Human Right.'
These are our rights. This is not a matter of what Government will do to/for Survivors, it is a question of whether or not Government will listen to, hear and integrate Survivors input and take it on board and thus work with Survivors as equals at the table. That said, Survivors are the seniors in this matter, Government very much the juniors.
Having established that the Government understands all of this, given that thus far, the evidence suggests otherwise, we can and should proceed.
As to the 'data the government seeks', at this early/late stage...
To start with, the limited number of Survivors who have contacted Government on an individual basis, , who are described in the letter as 'complainants', is unlikely to be representative or even indicative of the whole Survivor demographic, living and deceased. The Government's stated objective of finding out how many 'complainants' are out there cannot be met in this manner.
Secondly, the questionnaire seeks to understand how many schools are involved, by asking Survivor Complainants to indicate which schools they were abuse within - we know already that a culture of violence and abuse prevailed across every institutional setting operated by Clergy. It must be assumed that all such institutional settings will fall under the scope of the Public Inquiry. The Inquiry is the forum to search for and extract that data.
Thirdly, the questionnaire will ask of Survivors, the role or job or position of those who abused them. At this stage, this data is irrelevant. It will become relevant once a safe process of Survivor testimony is established to feed into the Inquiry.
Fourthly, the questionnaire will ask if the 'complainant' has approached TUSLA or Gardai, or any other relevant Institutions? This too will become more relevant as data is gathered, through a safe process, designed by Survivor advocates and expertise, working with Government Officials.
Then the letter proceeds to suggest Survivors could have their information included in the Report, anonymised. Would Survivors have editorial control of such inclusions, to ensure their perspective and context were maintained?
The last paragraph tell us Survivors that we should understand that what we are being asked to do will 'contribute to making Irish Schools and Education safer for children and young people.' The implicit assumption is that Survivors will go along with the existing process, with this noble objective in mind. It is glib and manipulative.
As a Survivor, I'm quite sure Irish Schools are safer than ever before. I do believe that what was done to me will not be done to children within the Irish School system today.
The matter at hand is not just about the future of Irish Schools, it is in the immediate sense about the present and future of thousands of living survivors of child sexual assault, physical assault, psychological and emotional assault, within educational care settings.
The matter at hand is the most honest account of the past of those who have died early as a result, who cannot seek justice and accountability, whose case must not be brushed aside.
It is the future of Irish Society as it acknowledges the historic crimes, the culture of cruelty within the State and the Church, which enabled thousands of crimes perpetrated against innocent children on an industrial scale, and it sets a course for Justice for Survivors, accountability of the culpable before the democratic body of the people, reparations and life support for aging Survivors, who form up a significant demographic of The Irish people.
This current initiative is not safe, is neither Survivor led or Survivor informed. It has been designed by officials with limited relevant experience in this field.
I cannot participate in the current offered process, and do so in good faith. I do not trust it.
Update 31/5/23 - I was contacted by phone, from the Department of Education, seeking to check whether or not I wish to continue 'engaging'. I said I was willing to continue, and I made my concerns clear, that Survivors needed more than a questionnaire, that we needed a Survivors Panel to represent our side in the planning of the Public Inquiry, setting out the task of the Public Inquiry. The person I was speaking to was an admin within the Department and could not speak to my concerns. I said I understood that, and that I hoped the message would filter up the chain.
Kindest regards
Corneilius
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